Thursday, October 30, 2014

Menino

“You worked for me a long time ago.”

The first time the man made an impression on me was a long
time ago, probably in 1990.I was
working at the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter in Boston in what was then
called the Men’s Unit.Some of the older
homeless men talked about factory and manual labor jobs that they had back in
the 1950s and 60s, jobs that just required someone willing to work hard- the
ability to run a cash register or a computer or smile at a customer was not
required.The shelter was a tough place,
lots of substance abusing men, lots of mentally ill men, and lots of men who
had both things going on at the same time.

Our executive director Rich Ring asked me one day to see if
there were 8 guys willing to work for a construction company in Hyde Park.The company was having a hard time finding
laborers and needed help for a couple of months.The Hyde Park District City Councilor knew
Rich and thought some homeless guys might want a chance to work.We were used to politicians coming through
especially at election time and Thanksgiving and with TV cameras around.I wasn’t used to politicians thinking that
homeless people might actually want to work.I asked around and found 20 guys who wanted the gig.The name of the Councilor stuck in my memory.

Three years later, as fate would have it, the Councilor
became the Acting Mayor, in reality the Action Mayor.There would be an election.I wanted to volunteer.I went to one event in May, got hooked up immediately
with the neighborhood activists of Jamaica Plain.I became “Eddie the Homeless Guy” and we did
a lot for the Action Mayor.The best
political meetings of all time happen at Doyle’s.

The Acting Mayor became the Mayor, confirmed on Election Day
by the voters.The next day I got a call
from one of the JP coordinators, “Eddie, get me your resume.”

“I wasn’t doing it for a job.I volunteered because I like him.”

Two years later, I was looking to do something different and
there was a City job open doing homeless and hunger work in the Mayor’s
Office.Eight years of seeing a lot of
people coming through the shelter with the same problems - no home no job no
peace no rest in the words of Bruce Springsteen –made me want to work on the
problems of homelessness in a different way.

I worked for the Mayor for seven years.The org chart wasn’t
pretty but it was flat with something like 40 department heads reporting
directly to the Mayor.It’s amazing what
can get done when the Boss has his or her ear to the ground, when you’ve got
good people pulling in the same direction. Harvard Business School will do the case
study someday.

Besides having the opportunity to do great work on behalf of
homeless families and individuals, I got to do some very very cool things.I sat for lunch at a small table with the
Mayor and Angela….and Ted Kennedy and Vickie Kennedy.

I got to emcee a homeless advocacy event, protesting a state
policy….on the field of Fenway Park on an August afternoon in front of 300
homeless advocates, the Mayor and Angela Menino, Larry Lucchino, Jason Varitek, and Dick Williams.I have a picture and my catcher’s mitt
autographed by Jason to prove it.It
doesn’t get any more surreal than baseball and homelessness.

Bald Guy at podium is Ed Cameron. Mayor Menino is center with Larry Lucchino to his left and Angela Menino

Nothing is more surreal unless it’s basketball and hunger.To promote the Can Share Food Drive, we got
Celtics forward Walter McCarty to attend.The Boston Celtics organization was up for sale; a very nice man named
Wyc Grousbeck, who was finalizing the deal to take over and didn’t want to be
recognized, showed up at our event.When
I met the Mayor at his car, I told him who was there and asked what he thought
of the rumored deal.“$360 Million is
too much to pay.You can’t make money owning
the team unless you own the building.” Yes, the Mayor was savvy.

Despite the reputation for gruffness, I only got chewed out
once. “Why are we doing this event on a
Saturday afternoon?,” he growled at me when I met his car before another hunger
event.“Because your scheduler said you
were booked all week,” I said.He
accepted it; he wasn’t concerned about working on a Saturday because he worked
every day.He wanted there to be as many
people as possible to promote the Food Drive.

The Urban Mechanic sweated the small stuff because you’ve
got to do the small stuff right before you can tackle the big stuff.

In 2002, I left the Mayor and the City of Boston to get
married and move to Newburyport.I work
in Lowell now.I ran for the Newburyport
City Council in my new hometown in 2007, saw the Mayor at an event in Boston,
and asked him if he had any advice.“Work
hahd.”And if you’ve ever heard him
speak, you know exactly how that sounded.I won doing it his way - one door, one voter at a time.

I last saw the Mayor in the Fall of 2013 at a recognition
event to honor him.He was still in
charge waiting for the new Mayor to be chosen in a few weeks.I went up through the crowd to say hello.

“You worked for me a long time ago,” he said.

“Yes, I did, Mr. Mayor.” And we had worked hard.

Some people make such a strong impression, touch so many
lives that they don’t ever really die.Tom Menino is one of those.Rest
in peace.